In April 2001, a woman with a 25-year history of smoking presented to a PA (who had a medical doctorate but was not licensed as a physician) with complaints of cough and difficulty breathing. The PA diagnosed bronchitis and tobacco abuse and provided cough medicine and an inhaler.
In the next four months, the woman saw the PA several more times. Her symptoms at those visits included headache, sore throat, and coughing up blood. The PA’s diagnoses included bronchitis, seasonal allergies, chronic sinusitis, and tobacco abuse. Medications were provided at the visits.
The woman also consulted an allergist in July and August 2001. The allergist concluded that the patient did not have allergies, and her chest x-rays were normal.
Dissatisfied with her treatment, the patient then went to otolaryngologist Dr. W., who advertised extensively on billboards and saw as many as 100 patients per day. Allegedly, Dr. W. performed only a perfunctory examination and never examined the patient’s larynx. He told the patient that her sinuses were full of polyps and that she required surgery.
The surgery was performed in October 2001. Dr. W. subsequently performed six additional procedures, after which the patient’s condition deteriorated.
In early December 2001, unable to breathe, the patient was taken by ambulance to an emergency department, where x-rays revealed an abnormality. Five days later, another otolaryngologist diagnosed stage IV laryngeal cancer. The woman died in September 2004.
The plaintiff claimed that the cancer had been at stage I when the decedent was seen by the PA and at stage IV when she consulted Dr. W. The plaintiff claimed that a diagnosis of cancer by the PA or Dr. W. would have allowed the decedent to receive radiation therapy with limited surgery, which would have allowed her to survive. In addition to the missed diagnosis, the plaintiff claimed that Dr. W. had fabricated test results and performed unnecessary surgery, which compromised the decedent’s immune system and caused an explosive growth in the cancerous tumor.
The PA denied any negligence. Dr. W.’s response was to liquidate his assets, transfer funds, and study foreign languages. He took his family on a vacation to Greece just after the patient’s death. One morning while on vacation, Dr. W. went jogging and did not return.
This case was one of more than 350 medical malpractice cases filed against Dr. W. and the first to go to trial. Dr. W. lost his medical license and was charged with health care fraud. In December 2009, Dr. W. was found living in a tent on a mountain in Italy. He was extradited back to the United States and pled guilty to the criminal charges against him. His plea agreement requires restitution to the patients he admits to defrauding.
Dr. W. finally defended the case at issue, maintaining that the decedent’s cancer was already at stage IV when he saw her, so his treatment did not affect the outcome.
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